San Sebastian

This weekend I went to San Sebastian and Bilbao with the group from my program. This was one of the excursions that is included in the price of the study abroad semester. S. Sebastian and Bilbao are part of the Basque country, which is in northern Spain on the border of France. The Basque country is kind of different from the rest of Spain because they speak a totally different language, Basque. It has nothing in common with any other language so its very difficult for someone to learn it who hasn't grown up there. In Basque, they call this city Donostia. They also speak spanish, which was good for us. Aparently some people in the Baque region want it to be a separate country from Spain, so there are frequent protests for and against that issue. There was one protest when we were there that was illegal so we had to stay away from it. The guardia civil was there and they had these big black guns that looked like they shot rubber balls the size of tennis balls. I wanted to take a picture but didn't think it would be appropriate. This particular picture, above, is still in Madrid when we were getting on the busses. Its kind of blurry cause people were moving, but you get the idea. We left at 8:30 in the morning and it was a 5 hour drive with a 45 minute break. We got there mid afternoon. These are just some pictures of the mountains, if you can call them that. They are kind of small compared to the Rockies, but they are bigger than what we have in west michigan.

We went through a lot of tunnels and over a lot of bridges because of all the mountains and it was really pretty. Its kind of hard to capture through the window of a bus. Surprisingly the roads are very smooth and new. I wonder what kind of taxes they have for that.

This was the hotel we stayed at. It was really nice and all of our meals were served there. We had roast beef and mashed potatoes one night and chicken the other night. It was very good and the hotel was decorated really cool. You can see the lobby decorations in the picture below.

This was at the beach when we just got there. We had a walking guided tour of the city. Its not that big so it took like 2 hours to walk and see everything. It was probably in the mid to low 70's depending on if you were in the sun or shade. Some people actually went in the water but I think it was too cold still. This beach is called "La Concha" which means, the shell, because it is shaped like a scallop shell. If you say La Concha in Spain, everyone knows that you are talking about this beach.

These are some friends. Two of the girls live in my apartment and the other is in some of my classes. That island behind us is called "Isla de Santa Clara" and it is perfectly situated because it blocks all the heavy waves and makes the water near the beach calm and just like a swimming pool. There is a spot further up the beach that gets more waves and is popular for surfers.

This is my favorite picture from San Sebastian because the water is so blue and the courthouse is in the background and the castle can be seen on top of the hill. It is so beautiful there. The castle on the hill has been turned into an amusement park and you can get to it by a cable car that goes up the side of the hill. Its pretty cool but we didn't get to go up because there wasn't time. I would like to come back and check that out.

This is a shot down the street from the cathedral. There are two main cathedrals in San Sebastian and they are built directly across from eachother. We didn't go any closer to this one, which is called Catedral Buen Pastor, or the church of the good shepherd, but I have some pictures of the other one because we got to go inside it.

I know there is something like this in the US. I just can't remember where it is. I know I have seen it twice....anyone remember? I want to say mackinaw but I don't think that is right. Anyway, it just made me think of that.

This is the view of the other part of the city across the Urumea river. That part of S. Sebastian has a lot of French influece. France is only about a 10 minute drive away, and Queen Isabella II built a castle here for vacation. She even had a personal bath house where she could change into her bathing suit and then get into a carridge with oxen that would take her down to the beach, which wasn't that far away. I have pictures of those things, but I can't show you everything right now! I have to save some things for later.

Here is a picture of the water....isn't it such a pretty blue? Well I thought it was nice...to bad it was too cold to swim. I have never swam in the ocean. I think S. Sebastian is on the Bay of Biscay which goes out to the Atlantic Ocean.

This is in the "Plaza Mayor" of S. Sebastian. I don't think that is what its called, but I didn't catch the name. Either way, its just a center where there are a lot of restaurants and outside tables to eat at and have some Cafe con leche. And there are apartments that overlook the square.

This is the other cathedral, Santa Maria. Its kind of sad that they built buildings all around it so that you can't really see the whole thing, just like the one in Toledo. I think this picture shows the best part of it though. The next picture is just a shot of the inside. Most of my pictures from the inside didn't turn out very well cause it was really dark. This was the best one. It was just the typical european cathedral.

This picture is my other favorite and Andrea, I was thinking of you when I took this one. I bet this would be a good one to paint.

It got kind of cold at night, but the breeze was still warm. We went for a walk along the beach and the pier goes all the way out to the tip of the mainland. That spot is called "El Peine del Viento" which means the comb of the wind. In that spot, there is a sculpture of something, I don't know what, and then there are a lot of steps and a wide open area. On one side of the open area there are 7 holes about the size of a softball and they go all the way down to the ocean. You can look over the edge and see all the rocks and watch the waves crash against them. When the water goes under the spot where the holes are, it makes a roaring noise, and when the tide is in, the water shoots up through the holes. We didn't get to see it when the tide was in, but we put our hands over the holes and when the waves come in you can feel a huge burst of air come up. Its actually kind of scary at night, like when we were there cause you can see the holes and you walk by them and all of a sudden you hear this roaring sound right under you. I have a video of it but you can't really see anything, I just took it to capture the sound. If you want me to post it, let me know and I will. The following video is just of the beach at night. I think the building that I start filming on is the Queen's bath house, and the other one is a day spa. Well I hope you enjoyed those pictures, and even though it is bitterly cold in Michigan, I hope these pictures will warm you up a little by just looking at them. It was so beautiful the day we were there and I'm very glad of that. I would like to go back in may when it is warm enough to swim and enjoy the beach a little more.

Bilbao

This is the Guggenheim art muesum in Bilbao, Spain. Bilbao is in the north of Spain, in the Basque Country just like San Sebastian. This museum is interesting because its all about American art, so it was kind of like being at home in a museum. We had audio guides so we could type the number of the exhibit into our keypad and it would tell us about the artist and the work of art. It was cool to see all the different kinds of art there. They had portraits of George Washington..the origional ones, and I liked those the best.

This is just a view from the museum overlooking the park nearby. I love the palm trees :)

I tried to get the fountains in this picture but I was kind of far away. The fountains in San Sebastian were like these, only the water came up from the ocean and shot through the holes when a big wave came. I couldn't take a picture of that cause it was dark when we were there.

This is me and Jana in front of the museun right when we got there in the morning.

This is me and Katie up on the bridge that is next to the museum. It was cool to look over the city from that high.

A better view of the bridge

This is a picture of the channel from the top of the bridge

I don't know what this thing is...just an art sculpture, but it looked kind of cool :)

This one is for you mom :)

Pretty flowers!! :)

I think I got everything in this picture, flowers, palm trees, the museum, and the bridge. Beautiful!

This was inside the museum. I don't know what they are supposed to be but they are fun to walk inside. It kind of creates an optical illusion when you are inside cause the walls are slanted and it feels like you are going to fall over when you are walking through.

This is the restaurant that we ate at on the way home. It was a buffet and all the food was genuine spanish cuisine. It was the best food I have had on this trip. I had paella (rice with seafood), spaghetti with shrimp, croquetas, empanadas and more that I can't remember. Then we drove home after eating and it was a 6 hour drive which was very long, but I listened to music most of the time and talked to friends a little. Overall, it was a really fun trip and I defianately want to go back to San Sebastian in May when it is warm and I can go to the beach.

Prado

Today we went to the Prado art museum. It is one of the best museums for classic art in Europe. This picture however, is the top of the post office with the sun shinning on it. I just thought it was pretty.

This is the Prado. Even the building is a work of art...like most of the buildings here.

This is a statue of Velasquez, an artist that has a lot of paintings in the Prado. He was a painter for King Felipe II.

This is Amanda and me in front of the Prado.

Just showing more detail of the building itself.

This is one of the many fountains that we passed as we were walking to the museum. This part of Madrid is newer than where I live. I think our guide said that this part was built in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Here's some of those crazy greek ladies who always hold up buildings. I guess they do that in Spain too. :)

This is a picture of the street called Alaca which branches from Grand Via (which is near where I live and where we usually go)

Me and Amanda in Puerta del Sol. It was so nice :)

This is Puerta del Sol again. It was such a nice day and I couldn't stop taking pictures.

Puerta del Sol. This is the statue of Felipe II on his horse. He was a weak man but a good King I guess. The Spanish royalty didn't want to dillute their royal blood so they intermarried, however we all know that actually messes a lot of things up. The royal family got progressively weaker and weaker until Juana Loca (crazy Juana), a queen who was literally crazy. But back to Felipe. Aparently he was responsible for founding the mission towns of Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Santa Barbara and all those Californian cities. Interesting..... :) Well today was fun and even though I'm not really into art, I liked learning about the history here. We didn't really have time to see the whole museum so I might go back sometime. There are a lot more museums to see in Madrid though.

Happy Day!

Ok so I don't have any pictures to share today, but for me its something better. I went to classes today and I got to my last class, International Marketing. The professor introduced himself and then had us go around the room and introduce ourselves. So when it was my turn I just said, "I'm alecia and i'm a finance major at GVSU in grand rapids michigan" Then the girl next to me says " I'm amanda and I'm a IB/Marketing major at GVSU!!!" I looked at her and we were both like "NO WAY!" So then we just started wispering while the rest of the people introduced themselves and it turns out that she is from Holland and is a Senior at GVSU. I can't believe I've never met her. So after school she came over to my place and we talked and ended up booking a flight and hotel for Paris for a weekend in April. Then we went out to this cute little Cuban restaurant for supper and had a really good conversation. She is also a christian, a real one, and she doesn't drink or party or anything so we get along really well. She said that before she left, her best friend prayed with her that she would find a good christian friend on this trip and then she met me, and I was praying for the same thing! So we are definately an answer to eachother's prayers.
Besides meeting Amanda, this was the warmest day since I got here. It was beautiful and sunny the whole day and 65 degrees. I didn't even need a coat. Sorry to rub that in all you michigan people cause I know you are getting dumped on with snow and its probably bitterly cold. Just know that I am not taking for granted any minute of the warm weather here.
Until next time...Hasta Luego!

Toledo

Ok, here are some pictures from this weekend when I went to Toledo. We got there around 9:30 in the morning and went to this mall that you can see in the first picture. Its called Luz del Tajo, which translates as the light of the Tajo. The Tajo is the river that goes all the way around Toledo. It was a really nice mall and we spent about 2 hours there.

It was raining, but not too bad. We had to wait until 10 when the mall opened, so we took pictures and watched the cars.

This was my breakfast at the mall. We went to a little cafe and got Cafe con leche and chocolate doughnuts. Cafe con leche is famous in spain. Its usually very strong coffee with steamed milk. It was very very good, especially with a chocolate doughnut. And the best thing was that it only cost 1.50 euros which is a little less than $3 for everything.

After the mall we took a bus to the old part of Toledo. We had to walk up a big hill, and at the top was this doorway thing. Toledo is known for its moorish architecture, which you can see by the curved doorways and windows.

Here I am walking through Toledo. It was so beautiful, but we were a little disappointed because it was really foggy in the morning.

This is a view of Toledo from the top of the city. It finally got clear in the afternoon so we were able to take good pictures.

This is the Alcazar. Its a big castle that was turned into a library. Its not open to the public which is kind of sad, but the outside is cool enough. The funny thing for me about the Alcazar is that my friend and I walked around Toledo for almost 2 hours looking for this building, not knowing that we were right next to it and had taken pictures of it already.

This is a picture of the biggest cathedral in Toledo. It is incredibly beautiful and it has so much detail that you just can't capture with a camera. Also, it is situated right next to a lot of other normal buildings, so it is impossible to take a picture of the whole thing at once. I did my best to capture the best parts. We didn't get to go in it because there wasn't time and it was a little expensive. I wanted to wait until I know there is enough time and I can make it worth the money. Toledo is only like 71 kilometers from Madrid, so it would be easy to visit again.

Cathedral again. I just love the detail in the arches.

This weekend in Toledo it was Carnaval. That is a holiday kind of like out haloween because everyone dresses up in costumes. The difference is that they have marching bands that parade through the streets at night and everyone follows them through the town. It is a huge deal and there are dances and rides for the kids. Then again, every festival in spain is huge, and there are many festivals. Spaniards just like to party.

This is a little statue of Don Quijote. I'm sure you all know who he is...the guy who tried to fight the windmills. In Spain, everyone reads the book from when they are in elementary school to college, so they are very bored with the story. He's still a pretty famous figure though.

This was in an art museum that we went to. It was kind of strange, but we really just wanted to see the gardens, not the art and it was free, so we went.

There was a lot of random art, and I don't really know the history of art in Spain so it was kind of meaningless to me.

This is the courtyard/garden at the art museum. We couldn't take pictures in the museum, so we took a lot outside in the gardens.

This is next to the Alcazar, overlooking a valley that goes down to the Tajo river. It was really pretty. The lady who took this picture was funny because we asked her in spanish to take our picture and she says in english that she can't speak spanish. Ha!

This is just a picture of me with a cool bridge in the background.

Me and Alexandra...again We had a really good time in Toledo and I have so many more pictures. I am going to try and make a slide show, but we'll see. These are just a few of my favorites, and if you want to see it better, you just have to come and visit me and I will take you there!!!